I could not believe that he did wrong knowingly, so I came to the conclusion that he did not hold it a sin to touch a lighted lamp on Sabbath.

Then why was he so secret in his action?
That, too, became clear to me.

I myself had instinctively adopted secret methods in all my little investigations, and had kept the results to myself.

The way in which my questions were received had taught me much.

I had a dim, inarticulate understanding of the horror and indignation which my father would excite if he, supposedly a man of piety, should publish the heretical opinion that it was not wrong to handle fire on the Sabbath.